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Ryan is a by the book cop and such, has a very strong loyalty to his job. Though Ryan had problems with his gambling addictions, he soon got rid of it by later seasons.

Now he has matured over time and has been given more responsibilities, even displaying potential leadership skills.

Ryan has a dry wit and can be very sassy and sarcastic, especially with suspects ("Miami, we have a problem"), but is very caring towards his colleagues and victims, combined with an undying dedication towards finding the truth and, later, a high loyalty to the team.

However, although being rather by the book, his more passionate nature and sense for justice sometimes get the better of him, making the otherwise careful detective acting reckless.

Despite his calm nature, Ryan is sometimes pretty short-tempered and doesn't hesitate to get into someone's face if he feels if he's played for a fool or manipulated.

He has also displayed a much darker side to his personality as seen in "Hunting Ground" when he willingly goes along with Horatio's plan to torture a suspect by slamming the man's hand down directly onto the table while Horatio approaches with a hot metal fork. It also emphasizes how similar he acts from time to time to his boss.

Ryan has a strong background in science, having majored in chemistry at Boston College and now pursuing a master's degree in genetics. ("Under the Influence") As such, he takes over the Trace lab position from Tim Speedle. He has also shown to be highly skilled with AV-work, capable of cracking apparently coded files with ease ("Going Under", "Chain Reaction", "Miami Confidential").

His studies take a back seat to his job; he graduated top of his class at the police academy. [citation needed]

Ryan is left-handed, but wears his watch on the left ("Miami, we have a problem"). He is noted to be a very skilled marksman, in later episodes often working in tandem with Horatio if a situation calls for fire accuracy. Also, as proven by the situation of Horatio faking his own death, Ryan is a more than capable actor, able to deter his team-mates' suspicions long enough for the game to be on.

Finally, as a former patrol officer, he has shown many times insight into phrases and proceedings of the Patrol squad his purely CSI colleagues have no knowledge of, ("Money Plane") and is noted to be a efficient, fast driver ("Under the Influence"). He also knows a fair number of patrol officers in the city by first name ("Miami Confidential").

Ryan, a patrol officer of the Miami Dade Police Department caught the attention of CSI Lieutenant Horatio Caine at the scene of a bus crash ("Under the Influence").

There and afterwards, Officer Wolfe showed great attention to detail and to the care of his sidearm, reflecting the fixation on minute details emerging from his obsessive-compulsive disorder (episode 303, "Under the Influence"). Wolfe's eye for detail wins Caine's respect, since poor gun maintenance led to the misfire at a critical moment that contributed to Speedle's death in episode 301, "Lost Son".

Caine hired him rather impulsively after that.

Ryan's first case was to find if Calleigh's father, Kenwall "Duke" Duquesne had killed a man during one of his nights of heavy drinking. He later found evidence suggesting that it had been an intended carjacking and Kenwall was completely innocent.

In the episode "Nailed", Wolfe is shot in the eye with a nail-gun at a crime scene, leaving him with vision

Ryan, with the nail stuck between his eyes

problems. Despite the tension between them, Delko was the first to arrive at the scene and drove Wolfe to get treatment. Wolfe misses a key piece of evidence in ("The Score"), and approaches coroner Alexx Woods for help. She had previously prescribed antibiotics for him ("Shattered"), and is concerned that his eye troubles may be more serious than originally thought.

Also during the fourth season, Ryan works to uncover the identity of a mole in the lab, after reporter Erica Sykes reveals the existence of an informant. In the episode "One of Our Own", while the FBI is investigating the team following an anonymous tip, Agent Glen Cole brings up the possibility that Wolfe has keratitis, a condition that causes impaired vision, and implies that since Ryan was supposedly the last to handle the missing money from evidence, he may have stolen it for himself. After the interrogation, Ryan goes to lab technician Dan Cooper and accuses him of being the mole, and of attempting to use his knowledge of Wolfe's vision troubles to frame him. Cooper pleads innocence, saying he merely let the information slip after one too many beers.

Eventually, Wolfe helps prove that the lab is not responsible for the stolen money, and that the last person to handle it had not been from their lab. This leads Calleigh to Agent Peter Elliot of the Treasury Department, who admits that he was the last to handle the money but insists that he didn't steal it. Calleigh then realizes that it was Elliot's fiancée, State Attorney Monica West, and Elliot manages to extract a confession from her.

Wolfe occasionally lets his emotions interfere with his job; in one episode, he stops a family from getting evicted from their home, and shoves the officer forcing the evictions. The officer files a complaint against Wolfe, which could have damaged his career. Horatio convinces the officer to drop the complaint, but warns Wolfe that he might not be able to protect him next time (episode 505, "Death Eminent").

When colleague and friend Eric Delko is critically injured in the line of duty, Ryan and Calleigh Duquesne go to the hospital to give him blood, though they learn that it is too late for transfusions due to the sheer amount of blood loss. Ryan and the others then take turns at his bedside before going out to catch the perpetrators. Wolfe becomes angry and almost resorts to near-violence when they discover Eric's shooter, but manages to pull himself together (episode 515, "Man Down").

After Eric returns to work, he experiences difficulty in the performance of his duties, such as when he unknowingly doubles up evidence markers at a crime scene. Ryan notices this and sympathizes with him, recalling his own vision issues and frustration following his eye injury of the previous season (episode 408, "Nailed").

Ryan is fired from the department after lying to Horatio regarding his relationship to a man to whom he owed $10,000 in poker debts. Yelina Salas, private investigator and former MDPD homicide detective, observes Ryan meeting the man in a secluded area to pay back the money. She brings her video evidence to Horatio, who confronts Ryan. At the end of the episode, Internal Affairs Sergeant Rick Stetler informs Ryan that he has been fired and orders him to leave the building (episode 522, "Burned").

Ryan does not remain unemployed long, however. He finds work as a consultant for a local television news broadcaster. Using his forensic skills he reveals the face of a suspected carjacker on television, only to have the man turn up dead only a few hours later, a vigilante claiming credit for the death. Ryan faces a great deal of hostility from his former colleagues, particularly Calleigh Duquesne, though he does try to help as best he can by providing the names and numbers of people who called into the station with death threats for the carjacker. Ryan's cameraman is caught and nearly killed by a mantrap hidden in the sand to protect a stash of drugs. This, along with other evidence, helps to reveal the carjacker's true cause of death. Eventually, Ryan realizes that the sensationalism and glamor of television does not further the cause of justice. He leaves the station and reconciles with Horatio, who warns Ryan that his every action will be scrutinized closely. Ryan accepts this, and will evidently return to his former occupation (episode 523, "Kill Switch").

Unfortunately, the bureaucracy within MDPD prevents Ryan from immediately resuming his duties at the crime lab and as such does not get paid. He finds temporary employment at a gun range, where he becomes integral in linking a weapon stolen from the same range to a man who murdered a parole officer (episode 601, "Dangerous Son"). Horatio Caine subsequently calls on Wolfe to serve as a bodyguard for a young woman being stalked by hundreds of people after a picture of her posted online made her instantly famous. While he takes his duties seriously (even foiling what he thought was a kidnap attempt), Ryan nonetheless exhibits disappointment that he can not yet rejoin the team (episode 602, "Cyber-lebrity"). Because money is tight, Ryan then takes a job as an expert witness in crime-scene procedure. His first case brings him into direct conflict with Natalia, because he intends to challenge her protocol in collecting evidence because she did not take it immediately to the lab. Natalia believes that Ryan set her up (she went to the gun range where Ryan worked to keep an appointment with an expert shooter), to which Ryan heatedly points out that he follows the evidence (episode 603, "Inside Out").

Ryan is eventually reinstated (episode 606, "Sunblock"). At the end of the season 6 finale, Wolfe is sent a text message reading "It is done." This is sent after a shooting of Lt. Horatio Caine. Prior to this, he had been paged by someone while questioning a suspect with Calleigh. He leaves, telling Calleigh he'd explain things later.

He finally is confronted by a very angry and confused Calleigh and Eric, both of whom believe he had a hand in Horatio's shooting. Wolfe, without going into much detail with them at the time, assisted in the staging of Horatio's death to help him go underground, and flush out the distributor of the fused alloy bullets, Saris. By the time they confronted him, Wolfe had already released Horatio's body to the coroner, who in turn released Horatio to the Feds. Horatio later surfaces, and proceeds to explain to a crestfallen Eric the plan in greater detail, as well as his selection of Wolfe to assist in the plan. He explained to Eric that this was to prevent endangering anyone else's career should the plan fail in capturing Saris.

In episode 706, "Wrecking Crew", it was revealed that Wolfe is afraid of heights while going up to the crane's control area to investigate.
In episode 710, "The DeLuca Motel", Wolfe becomes concerned for Delko after it was revealed he was staying in a cheap motel, much to the surprise of the team. Wolfe took his concerns to Caine, who said he would look into it on Wolfe's behalf after Wolfe mentioned seeing signs Delko may not be telling the team the whole truth as to the reason behind his stay there. Wolfe later asked Delko directly if he was in any danger, after discovering that the bullet which grazed Delko's arm while at the motel was of a much higher caliber than the one used to murder the suspect found dead in the motel pool. Eventually, Wolfe's concerns were proven to be well-founded, as Delko's biological father had indeed hired a sniper to shoot Delko and others. This was also the reason Delko's mother obtained falsified documents for Eric, who was only an infant at the time he had arrived in the United States (Delko had previously been told by his mother he was born in the US), since she stated to Eric that his biological father was a wicked man.

At the end of episode 719, ("Target Specific"), Wolfe was kidnapped by the Russian Mob when they blew his tire out. Meanwhile, the rest of the team tried to figure out who killed their suspect; Delko attempted to call Wolfe, but couldn't reach him. Wolfe was subsequently shown tied up and a member of the Russian Mob warning him that if he didn't cooperate with them, he'd lose something. Wolfe responded that he'll never tell them anything and told the guy to go to hell. The guy then proceeded to punch him in the face, with Wolfe still screaming, "go to hell."

In episode 720, "Wolfe In Sheep's Clothing", Wolfe refuses to help the Russians with whatever they are planning. After Wolfe repeatedly told them he will never work for them, the man torturing him yanks a tooth out as punishment. Wolfe finally gave up after his torturer warns him that his men have Billy and will do the same thing they did to Wolfe. The deal was to clear the Russians from a murder/robbery by destroying the evidence and if he doesn't succeed, Billy will be killed. When Wolfe was in his bathroom after the torture he cleans himself up and cuts a piece of his shirt he wore of the kidnapping with no blood on it and puts it in his kit. Upon going to the crime scene, he scoops up a 9MM bullet casing, that ended up being a critical piece of evidence in the case. He called Mark Gantry to try to warn him about Billy but Mark never picks up. Soon Ryan tells Horatio what's going on after Horatio discovers that Ryan had taken over Mark's debt. Ryan also touches the security guard's jacket with his bare hands in the lab, something which surprises Calleigh, who has always known him as being meticulous to a fault. Horatio manages to find Billy when he double-backs and reinterrogates a person of interest in the robber/murder. At the end, Horatio told Wolfe that the Russians underestimated him at the same time Wolfe realized that not only the Russian Mob is watching the team, but are trying to break them up.

In "Collateral Damage", as Kyle and Tara prep a victim of a grenade attack and discuss the case with Ryan, a second grenade which was lodged inside a victim's shoe falls to the ground and detonates inside the autopsy room. None of them are seriously hurt, but as Wolfe gets his bearings, he discovers Tara is frantically picking up prescription pills off the floor instead of trying to preserve case evidence. This alerts Wolfe to the fact that she may have an addiction to painkillers and talks to her about it. He cites his own issues with gambling, including how he went to great lengths to hide it, and how it nearly cost him everything. She assures him that she will deal with it, but he warns her that if he catches her again, he won't be able to cover for her. This turns out to be the case as Wolfe witnesses Price pocketing a prescription bottle immediately prior to an autopsy in the episode "Dissolved". He confronts her about it, and reminds her that he wouldn't be able to cover for her. Wolfe then makes a discreet call to Horatio, indicating there is an emergent issue. After securing a warrant for Tara's work locker, Horatio and Ryan discover prescription bottles from multiple cases, all of which were ones Tara had worked on as an ME. This included the bottle of Oxycodone that went missing, the one which she had personally assured Horatio was logged in as evidence, and in which she implied Julia Winston may have taken.

Ryan was in the process of cross-referencing and verifying that the prescriptions did indeed belong to victims in the morgue, when Julia, who had gone off her medications, came in and wildly fired a shot at those present, which missed everyone in the room, but shattered a glass pane. Julia was off her medication and as such, under the mistaken impression that she would be found guilty of taking the Oxycodone pills instead of Tara, and as a result, would lose custody of Kyle. Ryan tried to diffuse the situation and with the help of Horatio, they managed to take away Julia's gun and ensure all were safe.

Later, under the pretense of an Internal Affairs investigation into the events surrounding Julia, Ryan brought in Tara. He and Stetler interrogated her regarding her taking prescriptions. He told her "I gave you every opportunity" and with that, Stetler arrested her. Tara could barely make eye contact with Wolfe and Delko as she was led away.

When Walter Simmons, a tech from the nightshift joins the dayshift and later becomes a CSI, Ryan takes him under his wing. However, due to Wolfe being a CSI Level 3 and Simmons being a CSI Level 1, Ryan usually has Walter do the more dirter tasks.

Ryan has had mild altercations with Eric Delko on many occasions. The two have exchanged harsh words and almost to appear to dislike each other. Despite this, the two work well together.

He was impaled in the eye with a nailgun in the episode "Nailed". At the end of the episode "Burned" (#522), Ryan was fired for being directly linked to a murder suspect and lying about it. Seeking jobs as both a crime-scene expert, an expert witness for the defense, a firearms range technician and applying to work as an ME Investigator while applying for reinstatement, he was later reinstated.

Ryan has been identified as the leak in the Crime Lab. He has given crucial information to a local reporter that has sometimes compromised the case.

Having first appeared in the episode "Under the Influence", Jonathan Togo was credited as a Guest Star but did not become a regular cast member until "Hell Night" which saw him being added to the opening credits.

He is left-handed, a trait he shares with Raymond Langston, a former CSI and member of the Las Vegas Crime Lab. Interestingly, both Jonathan Togo and Laurence Fishburne both appeared in the movie, "Mystic River" although they didn't share any scenes. They later reappeared in the CSI: Miami episode, "Bone Voyage" although like "Mystic River", they didn't have any scenes together.

Ryan's original weapon of choice was Beretta 92FS but at the beginning of Season 5, he changed it to a Beretta 92G Elite II which he still uses to this day.

When he first joins the lab, Wolfe has a difficult time with his co-workers. Calleigh Duquesne is concerned initially because Wolfe's first case is a possible vehicular homicide involving her alcoholic father, lawyer Kenwall "Duke" Duquesne.

Medical examiner Alexx Woods resents his coming on board at first, telling him at one point that she "[doesn't] need any new friends." He grows on her, however, and the two eventually become close. Woods becomes something of a maternal figure to the much younger Ryan.

Eric Delko, who had been close to Speedle, is still angry over his friend's murder, and often acts as though he resents Wolfe as an interloper. The two seem to have put their differences aside for the most part, as they are often seen working together at crime scenes, though Delko occasionally seems to enjoy exercising his seniority by sending Wolfe to do the dirtier work. (As the lowest ranking CSI, Wolfe usually ends up processing the grisliest evidence, including acid-dissolved cadavers ("Dissolved") and a headless body ("High Octane").

Ryan is attracted to fellow CSI Natalia Boa Vista. The two dated briefly ("Dead Air"), but ultimately decided to keep their relationship professional. Boa Vista was obviously still interested in a jealous Eric Delko, who shuns their relationship in favor of Calleigh Duquesne. In spite of this, Natalia has been shown to be very protective of Wolfe. Recently, however, Ryan has shown mild concern over Natalia's hearing loss, going as far to force her to see a doctor. Actress Eva LaRue has said that she believes Natalia will end up falling in love with Ryan (Jonathan Togo) because of his devotion to her throughout her disability. Their relationship has been shaky throughout Natalia's mole status, Ryan's need to display seniority, his loss of job and eventual return, and her relationship with Delko.

In the seventh season, he appears to know about Calleigh and Eric's relationship ("Flight Risk"), joking to Natalia in the plane's "love nest" that they would like that on a plane, with a shooting range. There is also a strong fan-base between Calleigh and Ryan, and the producers said it had been a concern that Eric/Calleigh would not have been welcomed warmly.

Horatio Caine and Wolfe never had the strongest relationship among the CSI's. The two have worked together well, but Horatio quickly puts Ryan's life on the line to stage Caine's murder before Delko. He obviously trusts Wolfe with his life, but the two never connected as well as Delko and Caine did (probably due to their connection to the late Marisol Delko Caine). Also, Horatio usually refers to Ryan as Mr. Wolfe, unlike other CSI's, which he calls by their first name, and using his first name nearly only in times of distress or to emphasize praise. (Urban Hellraisers, Blown Away) Ironically, it should be noted that the two men often act very similarly if it comes to work.